Setting up a used Apple TV (3rd generation) with no remote

 I'm going to save you a lot of Googling and tell you how to do this right. I bought an Apple TV 3rd generation off eBay with just a power supply, as there were plenty of articles saying you can do this without a remote. You can, but it sucks.

 

Crucial materials:

1. Apple TV and power cord
2. Bluetooth keyboard or an app like Typeeto for Mac that lets your laptop act as one
3. HDMI cable 
4. Ethernet cable
   
5. USB-A cable with a mini-USB end

Step 1 (restore if needed): Connect Apple TV to power and to TV via HDMI. If your Apple TV won't boot up or boots with an error message, then you need that USB cable. Detach the HDMI cable and plug in the USB (keep the power cable plugged in). Plug it into your Mac. If you have the MacOS that no longer has iTunes (but has TV / Music /Books separate apps) then go to Finder. The Apple TV should appear in the sidebar. When you click on it, you should have a restore option. Click it. It takes a few minutes.

Step 2 (setup Apple TV) You need the power cable, ethernet, and HDMI connected to the Apple TV (and connect the HDMI to your TV). Power it on. This is where you need a Bluetooth keyboard. After installing Typeeto on the Mac, I was able to use my computer as a Bluetooth keyboard and to connect to the Apple TV. This way, I was able to get through intro menus about language, etc. 

Step 3 (get Apple TV on your wifi network) At this point, just unplug the Ethernet cable and use your Bluetooth keyboard to find the Network settings and put in your wifi password

Step 4 (setup your iPhone or iPad as a remote) Once your iPhone or iPad are on the same wifi network, you can set them up to be remotes for the Apple TV. Follow the steps in this Apple post about adding Apple TV remote to your device's Control Center. Then you'll need the Bluetooth keyboard to enter the 4-digit passcode to pair the two devices.

At this point, your iPhone or iPad can navigate the Apple TV! Congrats!

DIY Project Pride - a Garage Door Open Indicator

 I can't remember the last time I wrote a real post, so here's one about a fun DIY project to solve a problem - an indicator light for when you leave the garage door open.

Materials:

• Magnetic reed switch ($12 at Home Depot)
  
• Speaker wire (approximately 20 gauge)
• Small wire caps 
• Electrical tape
  
• Leftover corner braces
• Metal strapping
• Machine screws with matching nuts
• A few sheet metal screws
  
• An old 5V iPod charger (30-pin) with power adapter
  
• An extension cord
• One two-wire LED (your choice of color) - you can get a 100-pack for $5
  

I started with the switch, which is on when the two magnetic parts are close. I used sheet metal screws to fasten one part to the top of the garage door. Then I used the corner brace and metal strapping to attach the other half to the roof of the garage where it aligns with its partner when the door is open. (This means the LED will light when the door is fully open, but not partially open). 

From here, the speaker wire runs along the garage roof. I ran low on one piece, and had to splice it to another. I always tape over the wire nuts to keep the wires from pulling out!

The wires split after this, with one running to the LED, the other to the power supply. A third wire connects the other post on the LED to the other wire on the power supply. Below you can see where I drilled the hole to push the light through to the outside.

Here's the type of LED I used:

Here's the wire nuts where I spliced the power from the USB cable to the wires going up to the LED and back to the switch. In a USB cable, you have four *tiny* wires. The green and white are for data and aren't used for this project. Red is positive (power) and black is negative. It doesn't matter which one goes to the LED or switch first.

Here's where the 3' power supply cable ran out of length and I used a spare extension cord. 

Here's a non-electrician's diagram of the wiring. It's all lower power so you can't hurt yourself. The hardest part is stripping the USB power supply wiring, which was wrapped in foil and then the wires were so small my wire stripping tool would often cut the entire wire. I also double over the stripped wire to make it fill up the wire nut and stay connected.

Now, when the garage is open, the light is green!

Warning of ‘Pig Zero’: One Drugmaker’s Push to Sell More Antibiotics

Warning of 'Pig Zero': One Drugmaker's Push to Sell More Antibiotics:

But at last year's big swine industry trade show, the World Pork Expo in Des Moines, one of the largest manufacturers of drugs for livestock was pushing the opposite message. via Pocket

Stop Creating Corporate Goliaths

Stop Creating Corporate Goliaths:

Letting T-Mobile merge with Sprint would hurt consumers, workers and the economy. The editorial board represents the opinions of the board, its editor and the publisher. It is separate from the newsroom and the Op-Ed section. via Pocket

Why Fiction Trumps Truth

Why Fiction Trumps Truth:

We humans know more truths than any species on earth. Yet we also believe the most falsehoods. Mr. Harari is a historian. via Pocket

What ‘Good’ Dads Get Away With

What 'Good' Dads Get Away With:

Division of labor in the home is one of the most important equity issues of our time. Yet at this rate it will be another 75 years before men do half the work. via Pocket

Is Prison Necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore Might Change Your Mind

Is Prison Necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore Might Change Your Mind:

There's an anecdote that Ruth Wilson Gilmore likes to share about being at an environmental-justice conference in Fresno in 2003. via Pocket

Sharing Options

Sharing Options:

via Pocket

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Tax Hike Idea Is Not About Soaking the Rich

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Tax Hike Idea Is Not About Soaking the Rich:

It's about curtailing inequality and saving democracy. Mr. Saez and Mr. Zucman are economics professors at the University of California, Berkeley, via Pocket

Organizing in Trump country with George Goehl: podcast & transcript

Organizing in Trump country with George Goehl: podcast & transcript:

Chris Hayes speaks with grassroots organizer George Goehl, the director of People's Action, who is focusing his efforts on white rural America. via Pocket

Jay Rosen on Twitter

Jay Rosen on Twitter:

'Campaign coverage: the road not taken.' There was a path the American press could have walked, but did not. This alternative way was illuminated as far back as 1992. Our political journalists declined it. And here we are. This thread is that story. 1/ via Pocket

The Tyranny of Convenience

The Tyranny of Convenience:

Convenience is the most underestimated and least understood force in the world today. As a driver of human decisions, it may not offer the illicit thrill of Freud's unconscious sexual desires or the mathematical elegance of the economist's incentives. Convenience is boring. via Pocket

What if the Placebo Effect Isn’t a Trick?

What if the Placebo Effect Isn't a Trick?:

The Chain of Office of the Dutch city of Leiden is a broad and colorful ceremonial necklace that, draped around the shoulders of Mayor Henri Lenferink, lends a magisterial air to official proceedings in this ancient university town. via Pocket

Why Democrats Should Not Call the Georgia Governor’s Race “Stolen”

Why Democrats Should Not Call the Georgia Governor's Race "Stolen":

Many Democrats are understandably angry about efforts to suppress the vote in Georgia and elsewhere in the 2018 midterm elections. In the Peach State, there is no question that Gov. via Pocket

Uber and the False Hopes of the Sharing Economy

Uber and the False Hopes of the Sharing Economy:

Not long ago arrived word of a new start-up, Wonderschool, which as its website explains, is a "network of boutique, in-home early childhood programs" — the Airbnb or Rover of preschool. via Pocket

What the Mystery of the Tick-Borne Meat Allergy Could Reveal

What the Mystery of the Tick-Borne Meat Allergy Could Reveal:

One spring evening in 2016, Lee Niegelsky's underarm began to itch. An investment manager, he was doing housework around his condo, and he thought he'd been bitten by a chigger. But within 15 minutes, hives had erupted all over his body. via Pocket

California Shields Big Soda From Local Taxes

California Shields Big Soda From Local Taxes:

SAN FRANCISCO—State lawmakers banned all local taxes on groceries for 12 years in California on Thursday, a major victory for the soda industry, which used the state's ballot-initiative system to force legislators' hands. The ban was signed into law by Gov. via Pocket

The trouble with recycling: It's a plastic paradox

The trouble with recycling: It's a plastic paradox:

Americans were not set up for success in recycling plastics. Even before China stopped accepting plastic refuse from abroad, 91 percent of potentially recyclable plastic in the U.S. ended up in landfills — or worse, in the oceans. Europe does a little better, with 70 percent getting tossed. via Pocket

The Las Vegas Union That Learned To Beat The House

The Las Vegas Union That Learned To Beat The House:

LAS VEGAS ― Monie Stewart-Cariaga recently decided to leave the townhouse she's renting to buy a new home. For a single cocktail server, she couldn't be in a better position to do it. via Pocket

Justice reforms take hold, the inmate population plummets, and Philadelphia closes a notorious jail

Justice reforms take hold, the inmate population plummets, and Philadelphia closes a notorious jail:

This article has been updated to correct a statement by the public defender that initial bail hearings are staffed by lawyers at all times. They are not. via Pocket

A Credible and Bold Basic Income

A Credible and Bold Basic Income:

Thomas Piketty: Is our basic income really universal?: After our call « For a credible and bold basic income » launched by a group of ten researchers  (Antoine Bozio, Thomas Breda, Julia Cagé, Lucas Chancel, Elise Huillery, Camille Landais, Dominique Méda, Emmanuel Saez, Tancrède Voituriez) via Pocket

The Rise and Fall of the Word 'Monopoly' in American Life

The Rise and Fall of the Word 'Monopoly' in American Life:

For several decades, the term was a fixture of newspaper headlines and campaign speeches. Then something changed. If "monopoly" sounds like a word from another era, that's because, until recently, it was. via Pocket

How Child Care Enriches Mothers, and Especially the Sons They Raise

How Child Care Enriches Mothers, and Especially the Sons They Raise:

As many American parents know, hiring care for young children during the workday is punishingly expensive, costing the typical family about a third of its income. Helping parents pay for that care would be expensive for society, too. via Pocket

Paying Taxes Is More Popular Than You Think (Episode 41)

Paying Taxes Is More Popular Than You Think (Episode 41):

Taxes, like death, are inevitable. However, that conception of taxes doesn't reflect how the majority of Americans view their relationship to their local, state, and federal government taxes. via Pocket

The Tortilla Cartel

The Tortilla Cartel:

Several years ago, while researching a story about gourmet tacos, I called Diana Kennedy at her home in Michoacán in Mexico. via Pocket

A Simple Way to Improve a Billion Lives: Eyeglasses

A Simple Way to Improve a Billion Lives: Eyeglasses:

PANIPAT, India — Shivam Kumar's failing eyesight was manageable at first. To better see the chalkboard, the 12-year-old moved to the front of the classroom, but in time, the indignities piled up. via Pocket

Sharing Options

Sharing Options:

via Pocket

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Tax Hike Idea Is Not About Soaking the Rich

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Tax Hike Idea Is Not About Soaking the Rich:

It's about curtailing inequality and saving democracy. Mr. Saez and Mr. Zucman are economics professors at the University of California, Berkeley, via Pocket